Media

Now Chapter 10

The Political Functions of Media

• Provide information

• Help us to interpret events and policies and are influential in setting the national policy agenda

• Provide a forum for political conversations

• Socialize children to political culture

Providing Information• The news is a way to inform people of what is

going on in the world around them.• This means also politics is included.• Infotainment: news shows that combine

entertainment and news. EX: The Daily show and Colbert Report.

• Sound bites: short audio or video clips taken from a large speech. These are used to get the main points across.

• Soft news: events or topics that are not serious or broadly important.

Providing Information

• The media, particularly the electronic media are the primary source of information for most individual

The Profit Motive

• Some believe profit motive creates a bias.

• They believe some stations avoid controversial issues so they do not offend their viewers.

Interpreting matters of Public Interest

• Information is given to help people comprehend and interpret matters of public interest.

• This process begins with framing: which the media sets a context that helps consumers understand important events and matters of shared interest.

• Some political scientist say that framing is amid at gender. Ex: 2008 election

• Media also helps shape the public agenda which are issues that demand the attention of gov. officials

• The way the media influences the public agenda is through priming which is bringing issues to the public through media.

Providing a Forum for Conversations

• The Internet has facilitated two way conversations between media and consumer.

• People form opinions on most of the information that they read.

• They responded by writing letters to the editor, knowing their letter may be published in the paper.

• MySpace, Facebook, BlackPlanet, AsiaAve, Faithbase are all sites where political messages can be placed.

Socializing Children to Political Culture

• The media socializes children to cultural values.

• The media often reinforces democratic principals.

• Look at shows like Sesame Street and Barney for little kids.

• American Idol is amid at teens and adults.

Historical View of the Press

• Pre Revolution the press rallied people against the stamp act.

• By 1830 the common American could read and newspapers were sold for a penny. Advertising and the working class caused the newspaper sales to increase.

• In the early 19th century reporters found out that sex, gore, violence, gov. corruption sold better than reading about the local school budget.

• This is also the time period when yellow journalism appeared. This type of journalism was irresponsible, sensationalist approach to news reporting.

Historical View of the Press

• The top of yellow journalism came with the US entry into the Spanish American war.

• The newspaper of Hearst and Pulitzer fanned the flames of war along with other papers as well.

• The explosion of the US Maine due to a rumored Spanish torpedo that was reported in the papers sent a public outcry to go to war. Thus it put pressure on the President and Congress to declare war on Spain. The press and the public guided public policy.

• After this era muckraking appeared which is criticism and exposures of corruption in government and industry by journalist. Ex Upton Sinclair's “Jungle”

Widening War for Readership

• Newspapers had to compete with new media after WWI.

• The radio and the TV started to change the way people got the news.

• New Media: Ex: Cable TV, the Internet, blogs, satellite technology.

• 1st Newspaper readership has declined at the local level.

• 2nd Competition has caused papers to consolidate• 3rd Newspapers are being printed online.• Also newspapers now target certain demographics

The Radio and Television

• Radio was the first electronic device that brought people to their leaders directly. In the 1920’s radios were a fixture of the American lifestyle.

• FDR’s Fireside Chats: FDR was one of the first politicians to use the radio for communication to his constituents and get them to lobby for his programs.

• “Good evening, friends” FDR would start his chat with this every time to make it more intimate. An major issue was addressed through the fireside chat

• Radio had other programs as well, daily shows.

Talk Radio• 1950-1960’s Radio took a backseat to TV.• This changed in the 70’s and 80’s with the emergence

of talk radio: a format featuring conversations and interviews about topics of interests along with call ins from listeners.

• In 1987 the FCC repealed an act called the Fairness doctrine with required stations to provide equal time to all parties regarding important public issues and equal access to airtime to all public candidates.

• Now listeners tune into shows with the same beliefs as them.

• Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly and others have gained massive followers by streaming their shows online and through the radio.

• This has promoted civil discloser as well.

Television and Campaigns and Elections

• TV has been centerpiece of U.S entertainment.• As cable increased news channels increased

and narrowcasting: the practice of aiming media content at specific segments of the public.

• This has lead to media segmentation which is the breaking down of the media according to the specific audiences they target. Ex: Food Network

• Telegenic: the quality of looking good on TV. Ex: Taft, Lincoln, Nixon

The Internet• This gave birth to a new media outlet.• Digital divide has occurred which has created inequality of

access to computers and the internet connections. This technology is geared more towards the wealthy.

• As far as the internet becoming more advanced this occurs through bandwidth which is the amount of data that can travel through a network in a given time period.

• This has allowed podcast and blogs to occur on the internet. YouTube could have never occurred on dial up.

• Now we have Vblog which are video web blogs that relay a message.

• This has also led to the birth of prosumers who are individuals who simultaneously consume information and news and produce information in forms like videos, blogs, and Web sites.

Using the internet to mobilize voters and how can it affect a political

campaign• E- Campaigning is the practice of mobilizing voters using the

internet. Ex: Jesse Ventura• Candidates now post YouTube videos daily or weekly on

their websites to gain support.• Blogosphere is a community or social network of bloggers.• Netroots the internet- centered political efforts on behalf of

candidates and causes.• Convergence is the merging of various forms of media,

including newspapers, television stations, radio networks and blogs under one corporate roof and one set of business and editorial leaders.

• Problems with the Internet: misinformation, decline in civility in political discourse.

Media influence on Government Policy

• The media exert an impact on government policy making by creating popular support or disapproval for government policies and by covering some public issues but not others. Ex: Iraq and Afghanistan war

Biased Media

• The media is considerable liberal. • This can influence political agendas, policy

making, and elections.• A poll taken show 45% of Americans

believe the media is to liberal and 35% believe its just right, and 18% believe it to conservative.

• Cooperate Media does not want to offend anyone.

Regulation of the Media

• FCC has been regulating the media since 1934.• The Telecommunications Act of 1996 allowed

competition in communications industry and presented new options for consumers, and allowing buddle packages. This allowed big companies to take control of the media. Thus biased opinions can be pushed on people.

• Congress is considering the use of net neutrality which is information should flow without interference or discrimination by those who own or run the internet pipeline.

Control of the Media

• V-chip has been installed in TV’s so parents can monitor what their children are watching.

• Some people want to regulate the internet as well. This would be done through censorship of material but the SC has ruled against it.

• Primal scream format is the loud, angry argument characteristic of many television and radio talk shows. Ex: Don Imus